Coursera and FutureLearn Raise Big Rounds from the Same Investor
Coursera has raised a Series E round of $103M, while FutureLearn has raised £50M.
Last week, Coursera announced their Series E round of $103M, led by Australia’s SEEK group. And this week FutureLearn announced that they raised £50M ($65M) from the same investor. In the case of FutureLearn, SEEK was the sole investor and took a 50% stake in the company.
SEEK group is Australia’s number 1 job matching site and also owns a number of different job related properties around the world. With these investments in two of the largest global MOOC platforms, SEEK is moving aggressively into the global online education space.
Coursera
With this new round of funding, Coursera is now worth more than $1 billion, achieving so-called “unicorn” status. The total amount raised by Coursera now is $313.1 million. The last time the company raised funds was back in June 2017, with a $64 million Series D.
Just a few weeks after the Series D, Coursera announced that Jeff Maggioncalda would become the new CEO, taking over the reins from Rick Levin. Since taking over, Jeff has solidified Coursera’s strategy, while finding a balance between its free-to-audit courses and its paid offerings. In 2018, Coursera reportedly made over $140 million dollars in revenue.
According to Jeff, “The additional funding gives us the resources and flexibility to further expand internationally and to accelerate the development of a learning platform that currently serves 40 million learners, 1,800 businesses, and over 150 top universities.”
To learn more about Coursera’s evolution, check out Class Central’s Year in Review series.
FutureLearn
Last year, according to the Financial Times, FutureLearn, the UK-based MOOC provider wholly owned by the Open University, was looking to raise £40M. It had hired IBIS Capital to help with the raise, and the Open University had pledged to chip in £10M.
With the £50M investment, SEEK Group has become the joint owner of FutureLearn along with Open University. The new partnership with SEEK will include contractual arrangements to protect the University’s academic independence, teaching methods and curriculum.
FutureLearn’s revenue touched £8.2M in the last fiscal year (to the end of July). The last reported investment in the platform was £13M by Open University, at the end of 2015.
To learn more about FutureLearn’s evolution, check out Class Central’s year in reviews.
